Now I'm Getting Scared; VP Race

Trump on Fri. Night in West Palm Beach, FL: “Christians, get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed! It’ll be fine! You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians! I’m a Christian”

What is he even talking about? What will be "fixed"? His campaign put out a cryptic explanation that he was talking about "uniting the country." It sounds like he means once he's president again, he intends to stay president forever like his pals Putin, Kim Jong Un, Duarte, and Orban. They aren't even saying he was joking anymore.

Rachel Maddow and Tony Kushner,
because I didn't want to run
another picture of Trump.

Now I'm getting scared. On a long drive to Cooperstown this weekend, we listened to Season Two of Rachel Maddow's Ultra podcast about previous right-wing conspiracies to take over our small "d" democratic government. In a conversation with Tony Kushner, who is working on a screenplay based on Season One for Steven Spielberg, Maddow outlined historic earlier successful takeovers of democratic governments in Europe. She explained that the stages are gradual and subtle. First you make formerly outrageous behavior and speech part of the mainstream (like saying there are "good people" of both sides of fascism and anti-fascism.) Then you assume power in a normal, democratic way (like by running as a Republican rather than as a member of the Hitler Youth Party). Once you are in power, you change the institutions of government to suit your own ends and then it's too late to change them back to democratic ones. She cited Mussolini and Hitler being elected before they took over and being handed more power by the King of Italy and the Weimar government respectively. We are already in the second stage and Trump is sowing doubt about our institutions among his followers. The Congress can't be trusted. The courts can't be trusted. I alone can fix it, he says. That's why I'm scared. Trump is saying the quiet part out loud. I never thought he would succeed in circumventing the Constitution, but these recent remarks indicate that's what he wants.

While we are here in Cooperstown to attend the Glimmerglass Opera Festival, we have come across Trump flags and baseball caps. Even a Let's Go Brandon bumper sticker (It made me feel good that they would have to come up with a different slogan now that Biden has dropped out.) My only consolation in seeing these emblems of a wanna-be dictator are that these people's votes won't count because they live in New York which will go for Harris. Thanks, Electoral College.

On the VP front, JD Vance continues to shoot himself in the foot. Or at least with independents and persuadable Dem voters. His cat lady remarks have earned him no new supporters and there appears to be buyers' remorse among the GOP elite. He brings no new voters to the table and alienates women.

Harris has the opportunity to pick up support with her VP choice. I think it will be Mark Kelly, Senator from Arizona. He checks a lot of boxes: from a red-leaning battleground state, naval career, astronaut, his wife is the victim of political violence and he's a strong advocate for gun control, plus he's strong on border security and is popular with Republicans in his state.